Christmas 09 Let's Get Organised!!

helyg

Pips_Mum wrote: »

Is it wrong that OH and I have said we are only going to buy DS a couple of gifts and put the rest in an account to buy him a pressie in the summer? We figured he will be getting a tonne of presents from family and friends and its his 1st birthday 2 weeks after Christmas (probably will go overboard with that as I am already planning his party!!)

No, not wrong at all. We went totally overboard on our eldest's first Christmas, he was only 3 months old and didn't actually need anything and obviously didn't have the faintest idea what Christmas was! Definitely a mistake we didn't make again with the other two.

helyg

I was having a look at rugby websites last night for ideas for my husband's hamper. He saw me (he didn't know what I was doing obviously) and he reminded me that both our boys had said they wanted a new rugby shirt so I think I'm going to do them their own little mini rugby hampers too so they can be like their dad. I wish someone would do one for me!

^!£$&

I was in Sainsburys yesterday and they had loads of peppa pig toys half price from memory they had a talking peppa pig £9.99, peppa pig crayon & paper set £3.99, ride along peppa pig car & peppa pig doll house.

Perfect I thought my nephew is peppa mad and I've decided on a peppa theme this year for him so I bagged the last talking peppa pig on the shelf & havent stopped playing with it since, it counts to 10, likes splashing in puddles and snorts lol

**Also sainsburys had play doh 4 packs on bogof so got 8 pots of full size play doh for £2.49 bargain as individually they were 79p!!!

C_J

helyg wrote: »

I was having a look at rugby websites last night for ideas for my husband's hamper. He saw me (he didn't know what I was doing obviously) and he reminded me that both our boys had said they wanted a new rugby shirt so I think I'm going to do them their own little mini rugby hampers too so they can be like their dad. I wish someone would do one for me!

I was looking for rugby-themed gifts for a friend's birthday recently, and found a brilliant small tin money box in the shape of a rugby ball for about £2.99. It is similar to this one I have just seen on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rugby-money-box-tin-Boys-Fathers-day-Dad-Childrens-Kids_W0QQitemZ160345391801QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Collectables_Moneyboxes_RL?hash=item25555482b9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_788wt_941

That might be good for your boys' hampers.

Rummer

We usually arrange a big day away for my DD during the Christmas holidays and only give her a couple of gifts as we found that our family was so generous that we were left with mountains of toys. We also smuggle a few up to the loft and give her them throughout the year so they are not ignored and the pleasure is spread over the year.

KJ1980

Can I join in????

I'm doing a challenge with my sister in law to do a hamper for £10 max. Items inside can be either free from BOGOFs, using points on my loyalty cards, or spending £10 hard cash.

I'm going to do 3 things and can't believe I'll be able to do it for £10!!!

1. Cooking Hamper

So far I have a pampered chef small bar pan made of stoneware (free as I hosted a party)

I can't decide whether to do as a receipe and do mini jars of ingredients.

2. A jar of £10
Like the jar of nothing I have seen on this. Loved that idea so thought I would put a paper £10 note in, not a real one and then on the back showing how I only spent £10.

3. A Money Saving Hamper

She is just getting into money saving but hasn't quite got it yet.

So am thinking of:

A money tin (homemade)
A note book
A pen
A coupon wallet
A little black box (made by the same person for A jar of nothing)
A money saving magazine (free if i can get one, I thought I saw on here but can't find it)


How does this sound?

I'm loving all the ideas and suggestions. I also save money each month towards xmas but my plan is that if I can do everyone before I can be very naughty and get my hubby this huge tv he has gone on and on about for years!!!

x

sammy_kaye18

KJ1980 wrote: »

Can I join in????

I'm doing a challenge with my sister in law to do a hamper for £10 max. Items inside can be either free from BOGOFs, using points on my loyalty cards, or spending £10 hard cash.

I'm going to do 3 things and can't believe I'll be able to do it for £10!!!

1. Cooking Hamper

So far I have a pampered chef small bar pan made of stoneware (free as I hosted a party)

I can't decide whether to do as a receipe and do mini jars of ingredients.

2. A jar of £10
Like the jar of nothing I have seen on this. Loved that idea so thought I would put a paper £10 note in, not a real one and then on the back showing how I only spent £10.

3. A Money Saving Hamper

She is just getting into money saving but hasn't quite got it yet.

So am thinking of:

A money tin (homemade)
A note book
A pen
A coupon wallet
A little black box (made by the same person for A jar of nothing)
A money saving magazine (free if i can get one, I thought I saw on here but can't find it)


How does this sound?

I'm loving all the ideas and suggestions. I also save money each month towards xmas but my plan is that if I can do everyone before I can be very naughty and get my hubby this huge tv he has gone on and on about for years!!!

x

Welcome to the thread - those ideas sound great.

You could also get your SIL a book keeping book so she can watch bills etc to see where her money is going.
What about a copy of the money diet - can be picked up for 1p on Amazon and its our beloved martin : )
You could also make your own money saving book with some ideas from the OS thread and maybe have a recipe section and then look at the no gas/electric thread or the sneaky ways to save pennies thread has lots of ideas too.

cdsmiler

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Clare - where in Wales are you? we could have a welsh Christmas bargain hunting meet at this rate! and don't worry I'll be 7 months pregnant and still working come Xmas! :eek:

I'm not far from merthyr. Originally from Pontypridd. You?

We're buying a brand new unique bauble for each year we're married - we had one given to us last year, so year one was sorted, and this year we're hoping to get a baby related one! I've seen those Baby First Christmas ones but 1) they're normally either in blue or pink, and sonographers can never be accurate!!! And 2) There's a real chance that the baby might not come until Boxing day!! So it wouldn't be baby's first christmas! lol

The last few years we've had christmas at my parents. We normally don't bother with breakfast, except maybe a piece of toast, or some tea and biscuits, as we are pretty good and have Christmas lunch at 1pm. 3 courses - fish course first (smoked salmon, prawns, etc), then normal roast dinner (but Chicken, as none of us are massively keen on turkey!) with all the trimmings, including stuffing wrapped in bacon and mini sausages wrapped in bacon!! Yummy. Pudding then is a choice of either Christmas Pud (made by my Nan each year!), Christmas cake or chocolate log! Then we have an 'Irish' coffee (any alcohol each person prefers!! lol) with whipped cream and sit down to 'watch' the Queen. We normally talk over her, but hey, it's tradition!

Regarding presents - I know some families who have all presents appear under the tree Christmas morning, and when the children are little, the children think ALL presents are from Father Christmas! I was brought up with a stocking/sack first thing from the Big Man, and then presents under the tree - that had been slowly growing for the past two weeks (REALLY exciting to come home from school and see if any more have appeared!!!) - from friends and family. In fact, when me and my brother were old enough to be patient, the tree presents were left until after the Queen!! lol We still do this now - a small bag of gifts in the morning (secret santa style - 2 pressies from each person, each not worth more than £5, we in the past end up with about 10 pressies to open!), then main presents in the afternoon. Makes the day last longer!

How does everyone else do present giving/opening?

Clare x

Pips_Mum

Thanks for your thoughts everybody, I dont feel such a meany now! Rummer that is such a good idea and I will easily get away wth creaming a few pressies off the pile.

Clare - Our family is similar to yours. Santa couldnt carry all the presents in 1 night so the elves would drop them off throughout december and Santa would ring a few special ones on Christmas eve. I would open those little ones on christmas morning and then we had a big proper breakfast and wait until my uncle bought his family over at 11am and then we would all open our presents together and throw the paper in the middle of the room for the dog to run through, messy but fun!! Dinner would be around 3ish and yes we too would have the queen on but generall talk over her, sorry Ma`am if your a big MSEer!!

This year will be a little weird as it will be the first in 28 years that I havent slept at my mum and dads on Christmas eve. Sensible side of me says it would be too much hassle to take all the baby paraphenalia round to theirs and we will see them a little later in the day. But sentimental side says I want to be with Mumy and Daddy!!!

cdsmiler

Pip's Mum - Did you used to think ALL the presents were from Father Christmas though? I don't think we ever did..... and I'm wondering if we appreciated some of them more because we knew they came from people who had to buy them rather than them just appearing as if by magic and being made by elves! lol